President. – The next item is the debate on the report by Anna Elżbieta Fotyga, on behalf of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, on a European Parliament recommendation to the Council and the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy concerning taking stock of the follow-up taken by the EEAS two years after the EP report on EU strategic communication to counteract propaganda against it by third parties (2018/2115(INI)) (A8—0031/2019).

Anna Elżbieta Fotyga, Rapporteur. – Mr President, it is my privilege to present recommendations to the Council and the Vice—President/High Representative prepared two years after the adoption of the important report on the EU strategic communication to counteract hostile propaganda against it by third parties. I served as the EP rapporteur for the other report as well.

The first report, adopted in November 2016, was divided into two parts. It indicated major actors in this work against the EU in the presentation of hostile propaganda. It was a state actor, namely the Russian Federation, and non-state actors, predominantly radicalised Islamic organisations like Isis. This time we decided to structure the report’s recommendations differently, thanks to the contribution of representatives of major political groups in the Parliament. We divided the recommendations into parts, indicating the state of play in 2018 and targeting the hybrid warfare methods of this.

We stress there the necessity to avoid censorship while countering the hostile propaganda, disinformation and misinformation that is presented to the EU and its Member States. We stress the importance of quality journalism sustaining freedom of speech and freedom of the media. We also indicate the notion of possible legislative regulatory activity, at both EU and international level. There parties indicated the necessity to even introduce humanitarian law to deal with cyber—warfare or information warfare.

We stress the changing patterns of a variety of actors. In terms of radicalised organisation, we mentioned that, instead of very popular websites that increased the level of radicalisation of young people, there are methods of encrypted messaging services that are very popular. Much has been done, both within the EU institutions, EU-based institutions and organisations, and by civil society during those two years. We mention all of these activities in citations. I would like to stress the importance of the Code of Practice on Disinformation, the activity of the European Endowment for Democracy (EDD), as well as the transatlantic cooperation, and cooperation with like-minded countries and institutions like the Transatlantic Commission on Election Integrity on this.

In the second part of this report, we focus on indicating types of misinformation, disinformation and hostile propaganda. The third part is dedicated to methods for safeguarding our elections. The current year, 2019, is the year of over 29 elections in EU Member States, including the European elections that are to take place at the same time. After the experience of interference by the Russian Federation in elections and referendums in the EU and elsewhere, we have to strengthen our resilience to this kind of activity. We indicate the role of East StratCom and complement its activity, also indicating two other task forces for the Western Balkans, the Middle East and the North African Gulf area.

PRZEWODNICTWO: ZDZISŁAW KRASNODĘBSKI Wiceprzewodniczący

Neven Mimica,Member of the Commission, on behalf of the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. – Mr President, honourable Members, many thanks for making time to debate the challenge of disinformation and foreign interference, which is more urgent than ever in view of the European elections. Thanks to all who contributed and in particular to the rapporteur, Anna Elżbieta Fotyga, for delivering such a timely and helpful recommendation. It closely matches the logic and actions set out in the action plan against disinformation which the High Representative and the Commission submitted to the European Council.

The response against hybrid threats should be a joint enterprise. We are doing, and will continue to do, our part, but Member States need to step up efforts collectively too, as the European Council indicated in its conclusions. The recommendation underlines the centrality of freedom of speech and expression, as well as media pluralism, to resilient democratic societies. Indeed, our fundamental values must be at the heart of our response to the challenge of disinformation.

This is precisely the spirit in which we have drafted, and now are implementing, the action plan against disinformation. The report calls on the EU institutions to ensure that EU strategic communication becomes a matter of high priority on the European agenda and that the EU institutions and Member States work hand in hand in fighting against disinformation. I can assure you that all of this is already happening. However, this is a long—term endeavour which goes beyond this year’s European elections, so we are counting on the European Parliament’s continued support, not least in budgetary terms.

With the action plan against disinformation, we are increasing the staffing of our three strategic communication task forces to better enable them to detect, analyse and expose disinformation, and raise awareness of its negative impact, as well as – crucially – to improve the way in which we communicate about our values and policies.

Next week we launch the Rapid Alert System, as set out in the action plan. The system will make it easier for Member States to share assessments, data and best practices in tackling disinformation. This will, ahead of the European elections, bring better situational awareness, make it easier to determine responsibility for attacks and promote joint response, if and when needed, including in terms of awareness raising and increasing our society’s resilience.

I appreciate your acknowledgment of the work done so far by the East StratCom Task Force, both in terms of positive communications and in addressing disinformation. I would also like to praise the other two task forces, for the Western Balkans and the South. The East StratCom Task Force had a pioneering function. To date, it has catalogued, and raised awareness of, more than 5 000 cases of disinformation coming from Russian sources. Unfortunately, the number is likely to rise further, as the problem will not go away anytime soon.

It is our collective duty to keep the European elections clean from foreign interference. One way to do it is to raise awareness about the challenge, closely cooperating with the media, civil society organisations and online social media platforms. The European External Action Service is working on this in full concert with Parliament’s and the Commission’s services. Obviously, the action plan will fully respect the different national approaches, with freedom of expression and freedom of the media as guiding principles of our action.

In parallel, we are building better cooperation in tackling foreign interference and hybrid threats with our international partners, such as NATO and G7. To give an example, our cooperation with NATO already involves sharing assessment reports on the information environment and conducting parallel and coordinated exercises involving hybrid threat scenarios, such as the base exercise.

In addition, we should partner more with our neighbours to promote a positive European agenda. Investing in the EU’s positive communications and public diplomacy in our neighbourhood is crucial in addressing disinformation and promoting European values and interests. Cultural and economic diplomacy and close cooperation between EU Member Statesʼ missions and the European Union delegations on the ground are powerful tools for projecting a positive image of the EU in the world.

The best antidote against disinformation is, on the one hand, to promote a healthy media environment and, on the other, to spread the word about the positive impact of EU policies. Our citizens, as well as the citizens of our region, have the right to make decisions based on correct information, not on fake news. They have the right to a pluralist media environment and to high—quality information. This is about the quality of our democracies and about the quality of our Union.

Petras Auštrevičius, on behalf of the ALDE Group. – Mr President, access to information increasingly risks receiving unverified information. All EU Member States and countries that continue to deny the existence of disinformation and hostile propaganda, as well as its impact on public opinion, should recognise them, evaluate the situation within their territories and take proactive means in order to counteract and debunk them. We have to break down the existing market for fake news, lies, disinformation and propaganda in the European Union, which is effectively fuelled from inside and outside.

There are different kinds of terrorism – from military ones to social security threats. Informational terrorism is one of those which we must regard as a threat to public order, security and the fundamentals of life and of our societies. Informational terrorism is directly connected to hybrid warfare and attacks the minds and hearts of our people.

To make the ongoing battle between so-called elves and trolls more successful, we have to address current deficiencies in the East StratCom Task Force as its lack of regional expertise, institutional weaknesses, etc., requires urgent decisions in turning the East StratCom Task Force into a fully-fledged structure with increased support and funding.

Indrek Tarand (Verts/ALE), blue-card question. – Mr Schaffhauser, would you agree with me that comparing Ms Kalniete with Stalinism and all sorts of things is a little bit inappropriate because, according to my knowledge, she was born in a Siberian gulag? That’s the end of the question. You can answer now.

Sandra Kalniete (PPE). –Mr President, if there is one recommendation to be repeated over and over again, it is that the East StratCom Task Force should urgently be turned into a permanent fully fledged structural unit of the European External Action Service (EEAS) and properly supported with adequate financial and personnel resources.

Secondly, we have to continue support for the work of the European Endowment for Democracy (EED) aimed at strengthening democratic and independent national language media in the EU neighbourhood and within the EU itself.

And thirdly, a recommendation aimed at all political parties in the EU: be transparent about donors, big and small. European voters deserve to know which parties are directly or indirectly funded by the Russian intelligence services or global mega companies to make them into mouthpieces for these foreign and not always democratic interests.

Julie Ward (S&D). – Mr President, propaganda against the EU is not just about homegrown far-right nationalist Eurosceptics, who sit in this House with the intention of destroying the European peace project. As I discovered whilst working on the 2016 report, this phenomenon is about Russia and other countries who do not share our European values. Having successfully influenced the 2016 UK referendum, Putin’s agents could have a huge impact on the forthcoming European elections. The EU therefore needs to take proactive measures.

Firstly, tech companies should invest much more in tools to identify propaganda and ensure better identity checks of platform users in order to eliminate bots, and to reduce financial incentives for those who profit from disinformation.

Secondly, we need more awareness at political level. For example, the French far-right MEP, Aymeric Chauprade, gave employment to the daughter of President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman here in the European Parliament and this should not have been allowed.

Finally, the UK Government continues to ignore the hostile propaganda that proliferated in the Brexit campaign, so we must have a Mueller-style investigation in the UK regarding the dark money and the interference that clearly entered the campaign.

Eduard Kukan (PPE). – Mr President, Europe faces a grave threat to our democracies. The ability to argue with facts against lies, disinformation and propaganda from third countries, is becoming more and more difficult. We must strive at both EU and national level to defend our values and fight off cyber- and information warfare.

It’s a problem we face both in the EU and in the regions on our borders, in the western Balkans and the eastern neighbourhood. In this respect, we need the European External Action Service (EEAS) East StratCom Task Force with particular regional focuses, which need to improve communication on EU topics.

I also support the call for improving the funding and resources for these structures and their cooperation with official EU bodies such as EU delegations in third countries. Countering this information and hostile propaganda needs to be a priority, not only in the European elections but also for the incoming European Commission, Council and Parliament. We need to do a much better job in communicating the EU’s values and policies effectively. Otherwise our democracies might not survive this external pressure.

Tunne Kelam (PPE). – Mr President, East StratCom has delivered excellent results. It has analysed and collected more than 5 000 examples of pro-Kremlin disinformation. We keep demanding that East StratCom is turned into a fully-fledged structure within the European External Action Service with adequate financial and personnel resources. Financing has finally increased but is still lagging behind exponentially growing tasks – because next to East StratCom, there’s also the Western Balkans StratCom and Task Force South.

The EU Action Plan has an important task – to improve capabilities, enhance coordination and joint responses by EU institutions and Member States, develop better cooperation with the private sector, raise public awareness and promote education on disinformation, and not least provide adequate resources. Networkers and fact-checkers could be helpful in tackling disinformation, and the Commission task is to coordinate their activities into the European network.

Neven Mimica,Member of the Commission, on behalf of the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. – Mr President, this has been a very useful exchange. I thank the rapporteur, Ms Fotyga, and the honourable Members for their interventions.

From this debate, I conclude that we overwhelmingly share a common interest in tackling the challenge of disinformation and foreign interference ahead of the European elections. This debate has been a further opportunity to increase awareness about the subject. I close by reiterating once again my appreciation of Parliament’s role in keeping this important issue on the agenda.

Anna Elżbieta Fotyga, Rapporteur. – Mr President, disinformation poisons the minds and conscience of people affected. The best example of this was accusations delivered against persons like Sandra Kalniete and myself. Well, it is Putin who affirms the policy of Stalin, not ourselves; he tells it himself. And there are well—known fans of Putin in this Chamber from time to time.

I would like to very warmly thank all shadow rapporteurs. Their contribution was really excellent. I’m aware of deep debates about this topic within each political group. I think that the final outcome is a real contribution to further work by all EU institutions in countering hostile propaganda. I would like to thank especially Charles Tannock, who assisted me in a very difficult period of preparation for this report when I had certain health problems. Thank you very much indeed.